Becoming a Father
by XOXOJordan
Summary: He's not sure when he became a father. He guesses it was somewhere between his girlfriend being killed and the fact that two kids that had already lost their parents, we're once again left alone.


**I love how Alaric has become the father figure in Elena and Jeremy's life. He really cares about these two so I though I would write a one shot on this development. I hope we can see more of Alaric becoming a father figure in the show.**

**XOXOJordan**

He's not sure when he became a father. He guesses it was somewhere between his girlfriend being killed and the fact that two kids that had already lost their parents, we're once again left alone.

He is sitting at his desk grading papers, something that he rarely has time to do lately, ( It's hard being a teacher slash vampire hunter slash vampire saver slash father?) when he gets the call.

Elena is in the hospital.

Leaving everything sitting on his desk he rushes to the hospital. He doesn't care that grades are due tomorrow or that he left the door to his room unlocked. Elena is hurt and scared and she needs him.

They won't let him see her. All he knows is that she was in a car accident and was now in surgery.

He has to call Jeremy and Damon. He wonders if he should call Stefan but decides against it. He doesn't care how in love with the guy Elena is; he is being a dick right now.

He tells the two that he will call when he knows something. Jeremy wants to come to the hospital but visiting hours are over and he has school tomorrow. He has to convince him that being here won't help Elena right now

Damon tells him he will stay with Jeremy and he can't help but be thankful of the guy he might as well call his best friend.

She is stable. They manage to fix her collapsed lung that was punctured by a broken rib. Two of her other ribs are fractured as well as her wrist. She had internal bleeding near her liver but thankfully they managed to fix that too.

"Elena is going to be in a lot of pain," The Doctor tells him as Alaric says a silent prayer to himself. "Her recovery is going to be a long one but I think she will be perfectly fine"

After thanking the surgeon he goes to her room. She's in the ICU for the night, just in case anything goes wrong. When he sees her lying in the hospital bed his heart breaks. She is hooked up to oxygen as well as a heart monitor and IV. There is a chest tube in place to remove the extra air around her lungs. Sliding the chair over to her bedside he slides his hand around hers and squeezes it.

Pushing her hair off her forehead he sees the stitched up cut on her forehead. He can only hope that it won't leave a scar. She has dealt with so much in her life she doesn't need a long jagged scar to be visible on her face.

The doctors don't expect her to wake up that night. She is on a high dose of morphine. They say the more she sleeps the less pain she is in. So after sitting there holding her hand for an hour he tries to get comfortable in the chair and sleep but instead he finds himself waking up every hour to check on her.

It isn't until the next afternoon that she wakes up.

"Alaric." Her groggy voice says as she slowly opens her eyes.

"Hey." He says softly as he grabs her hand and plays with her hair.

"What- what happens" She asks closing her eyes for a moment. It's obvious she is in pain.

"You were in a car accident Elena."

"When can I go home?"

"You were hurt pretty bad." He tells her. "It's going to be a week at least. Why don't you get some more rest ok?" Elena nods before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

It's two days later that she has to the chest tube removed. To say she is happy is an understatement.

It's another week before she gets the ok to go home.

Alaric hasn't left her side since she arrived at the hospital and he wasn't going to now. He helped her change out of the hospital gown and into some real clothes and then into the wheelchair. They were given a prescription for some pain medication and sent on their way.

By the time they arrived home Elena was sound asleep in the back seat. Deciding not to wake her, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs into her bedroom. She was fairly light for being 18 years old. He lays her down and is covering her up when she wakes up.

"Thank you for taking care of me." She says weekly.

"You don't have to thank me Elena." He says as he turns to shut the light off and closes the door gently.

He goes downstairs to get started on his long list of things to do. He has to read over Jeremy's English paper for him as well as sign the form for him to go on some school trip next week. The laundry has been piling up over the past week as well as the dishes. Damon may have stayed with Jeremy the past week but he was not a maid. He had papers to grade and Elena's homework to pick up. But right now all he can think about is getting Elena her pain medications as well as something for her to eat.

No he isn't sure when he became a father for two orphaned teenagers but he wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
